On His Own Time

Well, after his long-awaited arrival, he finally came.

Luke Finley Hodell was born on Wednesday, Nov. 23, right in time for turkey.

If you read , you know how anxious we were all getting for him to come, and in his own time, just a day before his due date, he decided it was time.

Luke was born at 8:57 a.m., after my sister decided to go into the hospital at 1 a.m. earlier that day. He was just 7 pounds and 2 ounces, and 19 inches long.

What finally put her into labor?

Likely it was the relaxing. She finally sat back Tuesday night and we watched two rented movies. In the middle of the second one, she said her contractions had continued, and she decided to retire for the evening to get some rest. That didn’t last too long. About an hour later, they were off.

I didn’t sleep a second. I was up worrying all night long that’d I’d miss a call or then that I’d over-sleep and forget to put my nephew on the bus. None of those things happened. By 10 a.m., we had our call.

My sister delivered without any medications or injections. Don’t ask me how. I requested epidurals immediately after arrival at the labor and delivery unit for both of my kids. She was pretty strong, and her labor went pretty quickly.

She soaked in a birthing tub for a bit, to help ease her pain, and by the time she was out, she was crowning. I think Luke went pretty easy on her.

While our family knew that it was a boy sometime around her 20th week, my sister and her husband managed to keep it a secret about his name. We were all anxious to hear it, and now that we have, we all love it.

We’re glad to have our new baby Luke, and needless to say we all had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday. The new bundle of joy is enjoying his time home with mommy along with lots of visits from family.

I could go on and on about how gorgeous he is, with 10 perfect little fingers and 10 perfect little toes, but let’s face it. You are here for the photo gallery, aren’t you? I can’t blame you.

Enjoy away. We all are!